welcome boost. Perhaps one case when fear factor actually helps. Halloween spending on the rise this year and here's abc's clayton sandell. Reporter: To some it's the sound of terror. To others the sound of cash registers. Chris sfaf staff ford is what you might call a haunt entrepreneur. He co owns five haunted houses in three states. The wait to get in, four hours. Haunted houses are coming into their own as another form of live entertainment. Reporter: Staff ford hires hollywood actors like this one for me. Make sure you're getting my good side. Reporter: Nationwide there are 1200 professional haunts, ticket sales a billion dollars. Halloween spending is second only to christmas. Candy costumes and decorations will scare $70 billion out of american wallets this year. Up from $3.2 billion. In 2005. At distortions unlimited in colorado, this creepy creation goes for 300 bucks. Therapy for the children for the next 20 years is going to be pricey. Reporter: For some halloween is like therapy. People want to escape. They want to get into another environment, maybe stop thinking about things and thinking about the world and how scary that is and come out and actually get scared. Reporter: As profits rise faster than the living dead. Clayton sandell, abc news, denver.

This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.

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